Military AI Works • paint request for John's ai Gazelle!
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paint request for John's ai Gazelle!

Posted: 14 Feb 2021, 17:11
by merlin101
Anyone planning to do the RAF VIP Gazelles based at RAF Northolt and/or the raspberry ripple scheme ones based at Boscombe down?
Dave

Re: paint request for John's ai Gazelle!

Posted: 14 Feb 2021, 17:36
by John Young
There was only 1 VIP Gazelle at Northolt. It's not worth painting and making the helicopter overlay just for that 1 example. Same is probably true of Boscombe.

I won't be releasing a paint kit in any case until the French and SOKO Gazelle's are all done.

John

Re: paint request for John's ai Gazelle!

Posted: 14 Feb 2021, 21:38
by vortex471
I'm afraid the raspberry ripple pair and the red one are no more.
I would really like to paint them and the more recent blue boscombe examples but life is very busy at the moment... If nobody beats me to it (which I hope they do) I will have a crack at them at some point!
The Boscombe and Northolt A109s would be nice to do to too as well as all the vintage gazelles in private hands...

I never thought two AI heli types would cause me to abandon MSFS and come back to P3D 😍

Re: paint request for John's ai Gazelle!

Posted: 15 Feb 2021, 07:59
by mage
John Young wrote: 14 Feb 2021, 17:36 There was only 1 VIP Gazelle at Northolt. It's not worth painting and making the helicopter overlay just for that 1 example.
I've already created an FS9 overlay for Northolt as part of a large series of UK overlays I'm presently engaged in, aligned in my case to a rather old UK2000 scenery for the airfield that is now available for free (there might be a better one known to MAIW folks, I've not looked for one). It would definitely need adjustments for any other situation and sim. I'm hoping to civilianize a few helicopters as much as possible to get some representative civil helicopter traffic into the sim using John's models.

It has 3 parking spaces on the southern apron (official heli spots according to the charts from the AIP) with some attention paid to minimizing conflicts with fixed-wing traffic, and another 5 spaces on the disused section of runway to the north of the only active runway now there. The helos land on the northern edge of the main runway and don't seem to interfere with fixed-wing ops. The AFD also has angled ILS approaches at both ends to follow (approximately) the real-world helicopter routes to Northolt. From the west this leads traffic towards Heathrow until the AI senses the extended centerline of the runway, and turns back northeast to land (only when IFR, of course).

Oh, and all my overlays for the UK begin with X rather than E, making Northolt XGWU. I've also been making voicepack data for the overlays to follow the parent airport (clearances there sound better) and modifications to the data file for AI Flightplanner so that flightplans can be generated to the airport more simply.

My Northolt overlay probably won't help a retro project in any way, but if anyone wants to use it as a start on their own version I can attach it here whevener I get back to take a look.

Re: paint request for John's ai Gazelle!

Posted: 15 Feb 2021, 09:06
by Firebird
I would definitely like a copy of that overlay when you have finished it. The overlay ID is perfectly fine by me. It would be nice to have some 32 Sqn helos there, of any era.

Re: paint request for John's ai Gazelle!

Posted: 15 Feb 2021, 11:31
by merlin101
Ok, hasn't realised there was only the one vip gazelle! Looking forward to the French ones, especially the 'tiger' ones!
Dave

Re: paint request for John's ai Gazelle!

Posted: 15 Feb 2021, 13:40
by Firebird
I know that there was only 1 HCC4 but I think that they did have one or two HT3s for use at some time. Of course it could be my memory playing tricks again.

*UPDATE*
Not playing tricks, XW855 was an HT3 converted to an HCC4 and the proof is that it is in the RAF Museum.

Re: paint request for John's ai Gazelle!

Posted: 19 Feb 2021, 14:46
by mage
Firebird wrote: 15 Feb 2021, 09:06 I would definitely like a copy of that overlay when you have finished it. The overlay ID is perfectly fine by me. It would be nice to have some 32 Sqn helos there, of any era.
Sorry for the slight delay, busy making other overlays and stumbling over Newcastle (always a pain for FS9 AI, the overlay is just adding to the pain).

I've attached a zip with my overlay (designed for civilian use). There's a readme with a link to a military AIP chart for the airfield (December 2020 at time of writing). The military chart shows 1 helipad on the southern ramp and one at the north of the airfield, and parking along the disused runway's northern section. I have 3 spots on the southern ramp that I know are in civilian/military use. As mentioned in the readme the military chart also shows that a grass area north of the runway is used by the forces while civilian aircraft use the main runway, and the AFD uses the runway in my case. If you're happy using ADE you can move the runway and taxy links as required for your own use case. The grass location for the runway is actually probably better for rotary AI since it is further removed from the fixed wing AFD elements. Overlays can interact badly (Newcastle's problem), but this one seems to be as independent as they get.

Oh, and there are angled approaches that try to mimic the official helicopter routes that serve Northolt. They're fairly close, provided your helicopters are arriving IFR.

Hopefully it'll work for you or at least be easily adaptable to your purposes!